


Prayers

by muuchan



Category: Suikoden II
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 15:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5503382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muuchan/pseuds/muuchan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was amazing – if she looked at it from the outside – how orphans could suddenly become so important and powerful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prayers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AceQueenKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/gifts).



> Thanks to **lalalalalawhy** for providing SPaG beta-ing for this fic! Any mistakes left are mine!
> 
> Happy Yuletide! :)

When they first arrived at North Window Castle, Nanami and Riou both were still reeling from Jowy’s betrayal. It was a hard pill to swallow. Jowy, their childhood friend who couldn’t even put up a fight of his own (and for whom Nanami had to beat up other kids for), had done something so beyond anything Nanami could’ve expected. She couldn’t believe it but both she and Riou and had both been witness to the sight of him holding a bloodied knife as he stood over Annabelle’s body and…

There were times when you just had to believe, even if you didn’t want to.

So, when they arrived at North Window – claimed it as their own after the defeat of that creepy  bloodsucking vampire Neclord – Nanami decided that it was up to her to make things right. Or better than they appeared to be.

“Isn’t this wonderful, Riou? Our very own castle! Can you imagine what they’d say if they knew this is ours now?” Nanami had enthused, repeatedly, in different variations, until she could forget that the people at Kyaro thought they were spies who led to the slaughter of the Unicorn Brigade. It was easy to do anyway. When Riou smiled at her, Nanami felt as if things would get better, and that this was their new home, and everything would work out.

Nanami thought of herself as Riou’s guardian. Slowly, though, and as the war dragged on and they gained many new allies, it became clear that Riou could no longer just be her little brother. Their quarters grew to reflect the growth of the Dunan Army, and soon, even when Nanami insisted she’d be able to protect Riou no matter what, guards were posted at their door. Their numbers swelled, they gained territories, and whenever they walked around the marketplace, common folk bowed their heads and called on ‘Lord Riou’.

It was amazing – if she looked at it from the outside – how orphans like them could suddenly become so important and powerful. If she looked at it from where she stood, beside Riou  - Lord Riou to so many  - and knowing that Jowy had just become a General of the Highland Army, it was frightening. They would have to fight Jowy, wouldn’t they?

“Maybe we can end the war before we have to fight Jowy, right?” Nanami asked Riou when they returned home from that mission in Greenhill. She held Riou’s hands and squeezed them tight.

“Yeah…” Riou squeezed her hand back and smiled.

It should have been enough to quell the doubt in Nanami’s heart, but it wasn’t. Riou’s smile felt forced, especially on his tired face, and his eyes somehow lacked their usual shine. Nobody noticed. But Nanami knew Riou better than anyone – better even than Riou! – and she could see exactly how much the war was affecting him.

And it hurt.

So Nanami doubled her efforts, cheerfully finding distractions for Riou, asking the people of Dunan Castle to create little games to amuse themselves with. Anything to cheer Riou up. Whenever they had free time – and Nanami made sure Riou had free time away from the scheming Shu – Nanami dragged him outside, to just walk around the fields surrounding their castle. She got him to look for Mukumuku’s squirrel friends (four more, in total) and used the excuse of recruiting more people to their cause to take Riou as far away as she could from that War Room where they made decisions that caused the smile on Riou’s face to draw taut and, at times, to pass out from exhaustion.

Nanami thought she was handling things just fine. That maybe, just maybe, even if things progressed, if they kept things at a certain pace they’d be fine. She could protect Riou from wherever this war was leading to and walk away when everything was over. They might not have a majestic castle to live in after, but they’d have themselves and Nanami, especially, would have Riou’s smile to get her through each day. That would be enough for her.

But after Luca Blight’s defeat, Nanami felt as if the string she’d been using for her tight rope act just up and snapped. The Mad Prince was dead but somehow Jowy wanted the war to continue. Even if he was now King of Highland – Nanami couldn’t believe it when she first heard that he’d married into the Highland Royal Family – he didn’t want peace. He brought his archers to a peace conference and tried to force Riou to surrender. It was so unlike Jowy, their wimpy bookworm friend, that Nanami couldn’t find the words to cheer Riou up when they got home.

They lost Pilika that day, with Shu using her as their shield from Jowy’s archers. Nanami couldn’t believe Shu would do that, just as she couldn’t believe Jowy could have really killed them had Shu not thrown the child in front of them.

“I promise…  I’ll make Jowy see sense, okay, Nanami?” Riou whispered as they silently walked back to their rooms that night.

Nanami nodded but she wasn’t listening to Riou’s promise. In her mind, she thought, that if Shu was willing to throw Pilika into the path of arrows, what would he be willing to throw Riou into?

It was a struggle to push all that back, to keep a fearless smile for Riou, but she did it anyway. They would weather it. She was Riou’s big sister, Lord or no, she was _still_ tougher than him.

But then Riou grew weaker. Paler, more tired. And suddenly, Nanami began to wonder if those instances when Riou passed out were something more…

The war was finally taking its toll on Riou physically and Nanami wasn’t sure he’d last. Especially when it looked certain that at the end of this all, they would be fighting Jowy personally.

They had to win, that was for sure. But didn’t that mean Jowy had to die? Nanami didn’t want that. So perhaps the best option was to _not_ fight anymore, just like Jowy suggested, but this time… Riou wouldn’t be the leader of an army when he gave up.

It made sense when Nanami thought of it, especially when their army grew more and more. They had more generals now, politicians, strategists – what was an orphan like Riou doing leading them? Maybe they could just let him go?

It wasn’t fair anyway, how they were all these perfectly capable _adults_ making her younger brother lead their war for them.

That night at Tinto, Nanami finally gathered enough courage to ask her brother to run away with her.

Maybe it was the way she pleaded, the way she looked desperate, sad, brought up Jowy, and even belittled Riou’s importance…  at the end of her little speech, Riou said yes.

Nanami couldn’t be happier.

 

* * *

 

Running away didn’t make things any better.

Maybe it was Nanami’s timing that was bad, or some god up there deciding to punish them for running away , but they just ended up running into even bigger trouble. On the very night they decided to run away, Neclord invaded the whole Tinto territory. Riou didn’t turn back – just like he promised Nanami, he pressed on to wherever Nanami led him, all the while battling hordes of zombies until he was too spent to even stand on his own two feet. Until he’d collapsed entirely.

They ended up in a cottage somewhere outside Tinto. Riou was out cold as soon as they were inside so she barricaded the doors and then sat beside his prone body. Praying.

“Please, please—“ she pleaded, eyes closed and hands clasped together in the way she’d seen some of the older people back home do, “—I’ll do whatever you want. Just please… save my little brother. Please don’t let him die here. You can take me too—and… I mean, maybe not take me too but… I promise…”

She swallowed and clasped her hands together tighter. “I promise… I won’t ask him to run away anymore. I promise I won’t stand in his way again…. Just. _Please.”_

Maybe it was the same god who had cursed them earlier, or maybe they had a new god in their corner, but whoever it was that heard her prayer, answered it.

The Dunan Army found them shortly after.

They were saved from Neclord’s zombies but all Nanami could think was that she couldn’t save Riou from the terrible ending they were hurtling towards.

 

* * *

 

It was hard, after that, to keep fighting. All she wanted was to run away; take Riou with her and just run. But the fact that she had done just that and _failed_ miserably kept her from trying again.

Maybe it was her half-heartedness, or the distraction that was Jowy (Jowy! Right there! They were talking! They could have made this right!)….  Or… or… maybe she’d given up?

Either way, Nanami missed that one arrow, or maybe the arrow found her. And then she was falling….

And maybe this was a good thing.

At least, she was able to save Riou. At least, if she were gone, Riou would have one less person to worry about.

In the end, she was the one dragging Riou down, wasn’t she? Riou’s smiles weren’t because she was cheering _him_ up. They were because he wanted to keep her happy. Even when he ran away, it was for _her_.

_To the person listening to my prayers. Please… please… If I live… I promise I’ll stay away and let Riou fight without me. I’ll wait for him. I want to be there when… when everything’s done._

_So…_

_Please…_

  
  


 


End file.
